Oxenford lake proposal will make the Gold Coast a wakeboard capital

THE Gold Coast is about to become the wakeboarding capital of Australia.

QLD_GCB_NEWS_CABLESKI_18AUG15 Supplied pics of the Proposed Gold Coast Wake Park in Coomera

THE Gold Coast is about to become the wakeboarding capital of Australia.

A multimillion-dollar cable ski park is proposed for a 10ha lake and old quarry site just west of the John Muntz Bridge at Oxenford.

Early designs show the facility includes retail space and a cafe, and the two cableways will use an electrical system which operators say reduces the noise impact on the Hinterland community.

More than 3000 supporters have backed the project after details surfaced on a Facebook site at the weekend.

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Artist’s impression of the proposed Gold Coast Wake Park at Oxenford.

The Gold Coast Wake Park is the dream of Coast-based former world professional wakeboarding champion, Daniel Watkins.

“We have four current world champions who call the Gold Coast home and to be able to take the sport to the freshwater right in the heart of the city will be huge,” Mr Watkins said.

“We are way overdue for a facility like this. The boat users are going to love this park too as it will take the strain off the congested waterways and give the kids a fun and safe environment to enjoy the sport.”

The wake park will operate from 7am to 6pm with the aim of attracting international and interstate visitors while servicing a large local audience.

“We plan to make a world-class facility which will attract people from all over the world,” Mr Watkins said.

“The local community will have the most benefit by having this facility at their doorstep, at their disposal every day,”

Area councillor William Owen-Jones said public submissions on the wake park would close on September 1 and early indications showed strong support.

The council will consider issues like traffic and visual amenity with the only obstacle at this stage being to secure the facility in a flood-prone stretch of the Coomera River.

The proposed Gold Coast Wake Park will allow local wakeboarders to take to the water in the heart of the city.

“From the broader Gold Coast community there has been overwhelming support for the project,” Cr Owen-Jones said.

“The proposal is to allow for up to 20 wakeboarders at a time.

“It is a quiet electric motor system with the loudest noise being generated by folks having fun.”

The Coast previously hosted major wakeboarding championships at Cable Ski World until mid-2001 when owner Otto Pfeiffer sold his Runaway Bay venue to developer Australand for a residential development.

Six other venues operated in Australia at Cairns, Mackay, Sunshine Coast, Logan, Penrith and Perth.

Mr Watkins said the target audience for the new Coast wake park was the 8-28-year-old demographic but its appeal was likely to be much wider.

“My three-year-old wakeboards and so does my father, so it’s all ages,” he said.

“I spent 15 years chasing the dream of being a professional wakeboarder all around the world and to have the opportunity to bring a facility like this to the wakeboarding mecca of Australia is just another piece in the puzzle and a dream come true.

“There are definitely going to be kids from the local community who have never heard of the sport and because of this complex they will get the bug and travel the world and become the next champions.”